The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-05-07

| ttSdtlUuS III ulVlulUy. Auu ~ 10 VOL
understood that he was pronounced
Universalist. There was no conceal
ment of the fact. He taught his Uni
versalism candidly and unreservedly.
Hetaughtit withoutsuspicion of heresN
and, indeed, when he came to be
prosecuted On account of his opinions,
his Universalism wasnot alleged against
him. He composed the first system of
Christian theology which ever was writ
ten; and fundamental and essential
element of the work was the doctrine
of the universal restoration of fallen
beings to their original holiness and
union with God. The sufferings of the
wicked, Origen held, would be proper
tionate to their sins; for some, shorter,
for others, Especially the devil), they
would be necessarily rendered intense,
and protracted to an immense duration
to overcome the obstinacy and corrup-
tion of the guilty ones. But at last he
taught the whole intelligent creation
would be purified, and God become all
in all.
Thus, we will be led to infer, that in
those days, at any rate, Universalism
was very good orthodoxy. If pres
ident of the leading divinity school, if
the most eminent Christian of the times
were pronounced advocates of this faith,
it stands to reason that they had a good
following, when so influential and so
eminent, do not stand alone. And, in
deed, we are borne out in this supposi-
tion by this remarkable fact.
There were in the age Of Origen, and
for several centuries after, six theolog-
ical schools in the church. OF these,
but one was decidedly and earnestly
committed to the doctrine of endless
punishment. One taught the annihila-
ton of the wicked. The other four
were Universalist schools, whose stu
dents we would have found, perhaps,
as acceptable in our pulpits as the grad
yates of Tufts Or of Canton.
We will not fail to see the force and
meaning of this fact, which has forced
itself upon the unwilling minds of
orthodox scholars. A faith which COM
manded the assent of two such leaders
as these l have cited, and which was
Hospitality treated in four out of six of
the divinity schools of the church of
the third century, cannot be considered
an entire stranger in Christendom.
Here was a period in the history of
Christianity, when the church was
struggling hotsy againstpaganism; when.
it was offering some of its best life in
martyrdom for the truth; when mis-
sionary zeal ran high, and the gospel
was informing more and more hearts
every year. And here, too, is Uni
versalism quietly domesticated in the
very bosom Of orthodoxy, its professors
among the leaders in Christian thought,
scholarship and piety. Its doctrines
taught without suspicion of heresy.
It is precisely such a state of things
as would exist to- day, if here in
America, the schools at Andover, at
New Haven, at Princeton, and the
Union Seminary in New York, were
teaching Universalism, while Harvard
taught the annihilation Of the wicked,
and Tufts was alone in teaching the
eternity of future punishment. We
have, therefore, some very reputable
and orthodox ancestors in the faith.
The revival of Uniyersalism in the
nineteenth century is in reality a re-
turn to the primitive faith of Judea.
The scholars of this age and the schol-
ars of that age of the church which
stood the nearest to the simple teachers
of the early gospel, unite in furnishing
a standing ground for Universalism, on
good, solid biblical Interpretation that
the Universalist is in the company of
some of the wisest, most devout and
orthodox of Christian teachers in the
view he takes of the Scriptures and
their teachings; and that the teachings
which John Murray found in his Bible
were such as had been received by the
early church, and are now after centu-
ries of darkness and error, reviving in
the faith of Christendom, and recover
ing their old place in the teachings of
the gospel message.